Worn by Captain Thomas Hickey of Company A, 164th New York Infantry, this is an example of a Zouave officer's jacket from the noted "Corcoran Legion." Soldiers of this regiment are pictured on pg. 138, "Echoes of Glory–Arms & Equipment of the Union." In the photograph, two unnamed captains wear coats nearly identical to this pattern.



The sleeves are adorned with an intricately woven captain's trefoil of gold piping. A detailed trefoil also ornaments the back of the jacket at the waist. Matching gold piping trims the collar and edges of the coat. The fabric of the garment is finely woven broadcloth, slightly lighter blue than the typical officer's frock coats of the period. Both sleeves are widely tapered at the elbow, narrowing at the cuff, and nicely gathered at the shoulder seams. The inside lining is green polished cotton; the sleeves are lined with white cotton. An interior pocket is sewn into the left breast. All sixteen matching eagle "I" buttons bear "Scovill Mfg. Co." backmarks. The captain's shoulder straps are on a dark blue field, with dead bullion gold borders, interspersed with bright bullion strands.



Captain Hickey mustered into the Irish 164th New York on August 26, 1862, accepting a commission with company A. He was twenty-four years old, and married with one young daughter. Hickey saw service with the Irish regiment through the early years of the war. In February, 1864 he was granted a furlough home, visiting his young family for 10 days. Three months later, on June 3, 1864 he received five bullet wounds, one of which shattered his right arm, during the second assault on Confederate works at Cold Harbor. Captain Hickey died after surgery at Armory Square Hospital in Washington D.C., his wife Joanna having come down from New York to be with him. She gave birth to their second daughter that November.